Vanguard International Semiconductor Co (VIS, 世界先進) on Saturday said that its revenue and earnings for this year are expected to continue growing, after its performance in the first eight months of the year met expectations.
Hsinchu-based Vanguard is a specialty IC foundry service provider, specializing in LCD driver ICs and logic ICs, as well as power management ICs and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensors.
In the first eight months, Vanguard’s accumulated revenue rose 15.09 percent year-on-year to NT$18.78 billion (US$636.16 million), company data showed.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
At a family day event for company employees in the Leofoo Village Theme Park (六福村) in Hsinchu County on Saturday, Vanguard chairman Fang Leuh (方略) said that the company was grateful to be able to hold the event, as many families and individuals have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.
As the outbreak in Taiwan is under control and the semiconductor industry is relatively unaffected by COVID-19, the company’s business can continue growing, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) quoted Fang as saying.
Fang said he expects the industry’s outlook in the second half of the year to be better than the first half, and because of strong demand for 8-inch wafers, supply constraints would persist through next year.
“As smartphones enter the 5G era this year, the semiconductor volume is twice that of 4G, resulting in increased demand for 8-inch power management ICs, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors and discrete components,” he said.
“Due to the outbreak, the work-from-home and distance-learning trends have also led to increased demand for high-end laptops and TVs... In the short term, the 8-inch wafers for power management ICs and driver ICs will remain in short supply,” Fang said.
Vanguard operates three 8-inch fabs in Taiwan and acquired an 8-inch fab in Singapore from US-based GlobalFoundries Inc early this year to resolve capacity constraints.
As 8-inch wafer demand remains robust, the company is looking at ways to expand capacity to meet clients’ demand, including installing more machines or acquiring existing fabs, Fang said.
As for the company’s investments in gallium nitride semiconductor technology, which is used in power supply applications, he said that Vanguard has delivered its first samples to clients, but it would take some time to start mass production.
Nevertheless, uncertainties still lie ahead, including the economic fallout of the pandemic, the development of effective vaccines and the US-China trade frictions, all of which warrant caution regarding the semiconductor industry, he added.
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